Comments for leslie billingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com
Forever StudentTue, 19 Jan 2016 04:35:50 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on Day in the life by Caseyhttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/day-in-the-life/comment-page-1/#comment-57
Tue, 19 Jan 2016 04:35:50 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=142#comment-57Holy Moly! You sure fit a lot into one day. You made me tired just reading about it!
]]>Comment on changing it up by Wendy Menardhttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/changing-it-up/comment-page-1/#comment-30
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 01:49:37 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-30If I can find the original exercise, I’ll send you a note. Good luck!
]]>Comment on changing it up by mslcbillingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/changing-it-up/comment-page-1/#comment-29
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 01:48:11 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-29Wendy,

Thanks for the link! The exercise you did seated back to back sounds like what I want to do. I hadn’t thought of seating the students back to back, but that is much better than having some type of barricade in between them. And the link helped me to see what I want on the handout. Now I just have to build it and try it! Thanks again for the feedback.

]]>Comment on changing it up by Wendy Menardhttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/changing-it-up/comment-page-1/#comment-28
Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:21:18 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-28Leslie – I was planning on doing an activity similar to the one you have mentioned; it was something I did in my ed masters program. We were given an image (on paper) of some geometric objects somewhat randomly drawn/connected. We actually had to write out a description of what we saw, and then give it to our partner for them to re-create. We did a second exercise in which we sat back-to-back and one person described (out loud) what they were looking at for the other one to draw. The results – among future math teachers – were humbling. I just came across this: http://techbridgegirls.org/rolemodelsmatter/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Can-You-Draw-This.pdf which is not the exact same activity, but gets at the same big idea.

Good luck!

]]>Comment on I blew off my homework for this by tjzagerhttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/i-blew-off-my-homework-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-27
Sat, 19 Jul 2014 20:22:20 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=105#comment-27Leslie, Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I really appreciate it, and totally agree with the complexity and individuality you describe. I’m certainly not saying that number sense work is the cure-all, for any populations. But I do appreciate having some research pushback to the tendency for more drill and memorization whenever students are struggling in math.

The reason I became interested in the article in the first place is I’m writing about developing mathematical intuition in the classroom. It’s something we don’t do enough of in math ed, even though it’s very hard for anyone to do math without it. What I’ve observed, (and I’d love your input on this!), is that kids who might benefit from more opportunities to build intuition usually get fewer opportunities. They’re just told to memorize, or follow algorithms. Or an educator (teacher/edtech) “breaks the problem” down for the kids and they just “follow the steps,” so they don’t get the experience–and resulting understanding–of thinking it through for themselves. The next time they face a similar problem, they’re not wiser for their past experience. We spend lots of time and repetition on procedural skills, but not much time or repetition on building a feel, visualizing, estimating, having a hunch, making sense, etc.

Building intuitive understanding of numbers and space won’t make processing or memory or attention issues go away. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t develop intuitive understanding of numbers and space, right?

I’d love to keep thinking this through together. And good luck on your homework! 🙂

]]>Comment on Mission #1: Show me the math by hazeymathhttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/mission-1-show-me-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-24
Sat, 19 Oct 2013 23:26:35 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-24Do you have any details of this passion project? I’d love to look at it for my lower level Alg 2 students!
]]>Comment on Mission #1: Show me the math by mslcbillingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/mission-1-show-me-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-22
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:55:41 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-22I think they surprised each other, too, even though most of them have been in school together since preschool! I have a class with just two students this semester, so sharing out wouldn’t be the same. I have been thinking on ways for them to share out to a broader audience without adding performance pressure.
]]>Comment on Mission #1: Show me the math by mslcbillingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/mission-1-show-me-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-21
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:52:03 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-21Yeah, I always figured it was because I couldn’t find the right way to show them the relevance. Then I figured out they were the ones who knew what mattered to them, so they needed to find their own relevance. 🙂
]]>Comment on Mission #1: Show me the math by mslcbillingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/mission-1-show-me-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-20
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:43:11 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-20We talk a lot about having an authentic audience at our school. For this project, sharing something personal with their peers made it authentic.
]]>Comment on Mission #1: Show me the math by mslcbillingshttps://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/mission-1-show-me-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-19
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:41:33 +0000http://lesliebillings.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-19Glad you liked it. I hope your students enjoy it.
]]>